In our global economy multi-country research is becoming a necessity for an increasing number of brands.
There is a fast growing appreciation of the huge value in understanding both geography-independent factors and those vital for impact in particular markets. At ExperienceLab we are specialists in undertaking research across the world – below, we’ve assembled seven critical guidelines, our multi-market maxims.
In our experience, adhering to them can mean the difference between success and failure for this type of research.
1) Ensure you have excellent local knowledge to guide you
Working to forge and nurture partner relationships with UX agencies around the globe is critical to accessing the local knowledge essential to making a multi-market project a success.
We don’t tend to use our partner agencies to directly undertake research, but instead work with them at the earliest stages of projects, prior to commencing planning, and discuss the brief and its implications for their market in detail.
Critically make no assumptions regarding local markets and check, clarify and confirm with them all aspects of the research prior to commencement.
2) Keep your research options flexible
Any agency used to UK research might find themselves surprised at the variations amongst participants, behaviours and cultures within a single country elsewhere. The US is a good example, where the differences between the East Coast, West Coast and Midwestern or Southern states are significant enough for these almost to be considered different international markets.
Keeping a flexible approach to your research is critical to adapting to unforeseen variances even within what appears to be a single market.
3) Know your participants
Selection and recruitment of participants for non-UK research is a specialist skill. Ensuring you have the right person for the brief means going beyond the standard question set usually used for UK-based candidates, particularly with a view to exploring their personal situations in greater depth.
Make no assumptions about your participants’ predilections in an unfamiliar market – even when receiving the guidance of local agencies.
4) Stress test how your insights are captured
Create a concise, relatively bounded format for the participant’s evaluations to be recorded within – then perform a full dress rehearsal with your translator and moderator to ensure that they have a comprehensive understanding of how the insights are recorded.
Multi market research often involves multiple parties, and ensuring your insight capturing process is bulletproof to avoid insights getting lost in the layers of interpretation between the participant, the translator, the moderator and the researcher.
5) Ensure your translator understands the technical terminology
Create a brief but precise glossary of the key terms to be used in the research – particularly terms such as ‘dashboard’ or ‘main navigation’, which might become ambiguous in translation.
For the total avoidance of doubt, use visual methods such as labelling screenshots. This gives translators and participants the latitude to use the phrasing they feel is most appropriate, while the meaning remains consistent.
6) Triple check your tech spec
For projects in which participants are testing websites or software on their own personal hardware, put in place a system to guarantee they are meeting technical requirements – and don’t rely on third parties to verify this.
Require participants to submit proofs that they have the correct software and hardware, and guide them through the process of doing so.
7) Ensure contingencies for technical mishaps
In technology-reliant projects, ensure every research team member – especially third party translators and moderators – are briefed on what to do in the event of technical problems.
Draw up contingencies for problems such as connection loss, software crashing or hardware failure, and ensure that all research team participants know the exact steps to undertake if they occur.
In short, for international research the devil really is in the detail. It looks seductively easy until you try it and then the importance of experience becomes evident very quickly.
ExperienceLab are experts in multi-market research, having conducted live technical research simultaneously in multiple markets for a range of blue chip clients.
Contact us to find out how we can discover your international customer insights.
